Lara Adejoro
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has arrested the owner of Precious Jewel Int’l Nigeria Limited, Kingsley Awuh for revalidating expired cosmetics in Lagos State.
The arrest was disclosed by NAFDAC on its X handle on Tuesday.
According to the agency, the illegal activity was uncovered at River Plaza, Trade Fair Complex following an intelligence report.
The sealed cosmetics outlet
NAFDAC stated, “Precious Jewel Int’l Nigeria Limited was found altering expiration dates on products such as White Xpress Cream, Silka B Cream, Bond’s Magic Powder, Bio-Skin Lightening Lotion, Classic Hair System Fair Spotless Cleanser, Oil-Free Acne Control Oil, and Vaseline Blue Seal.
Some of the products
“Packaging materials, sealing machines, and other tools used for this illegal activity were seized from the facility.
“The owner, Mr. Kingsley Awuh attempted to escape upon the arrival of NAFDAC officers but was tracked down and arrested. He will be prosecuted.”
PUNCH Healthwise reported that NAFDAC shut three shops and raided others during a clampdown on the sale of unregistered “Dr. Teal’s” brand of cosmetics in Lagos State in mid-May.
The agency stated that the action came after a complaint from the trademark holder.
Earlier, the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye expressed optimism about Nigeria’s progress in combating counterfeit products.
NAFDAC DG Professor Mojisola Adeyeye
Prof Adeyeye said, “We are winning already. We cannot win overnight. First of all, substandard medicines are global. So, it is not just in Nigeria. It is all over; it is that it is higher in Africa than in other continents because we look forward to getting medicines from Asia, China, or India, whereas we are supposed to be thinking of making more medicines in our countries.
“So, winning the war is not a sprint, it is a marathon. We just want to make sure that we decrease as much as possible the prevalence of medicines that are bad in the country; we want to make sure that it goes down to less than five per cent.
“Right now, it is about 12 per cent which is still not good enough, but it is better than 17 per cent or 40 per cent. It used to be like 40 per cent years ago before my time, then they started decreasing it.”
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